23 people from south Lebanon killed in Israeli airstrike on Zgharta | Raid on Nabatieh kills family of 4 | Security Council expresses concern at targeting of UNIFIL troops

At least 23 people were killed in Lebanon on Monday afternoon in an Israeli airstrike on Zgharta, in the North Governorate. This was one of the few attacks to target the governorate since the start of the war — and the deadliest so far. The Lebanese Health Ministry said that another eight people were wounded.

The raid hit a residential building in the village of Aitou in Zgharta, which was housing around 30 people, mostly women and children, all of whom were displaced from the border village of Aitaroun in the southern Nabatieh Governorate, according to reports.

Commenting on the massacre, head of the Zgharta-based Marada Movement, Suleiman Frangieh, condemned the attack as part of “a genocidal war waged by the Israelis” on Lebanon and dismissed claims by critics of Hezbollah that weapons are hidden among the people displaced from southern Lebanon.

Meanwhile, intense Israeli airstrikes on Nabatieh have continued. A strike on Tuesday morning that targeted a house in the village of Jarjouh killed an employee of telecom company Ogero, Mohamed Hassan Mashroob, along with his wife, Ghaida Farahat, and their two children. According to media reports, Mashroob chose to stay in southern Lebanon to repair and maintain the telephone network damaged by Israeli strikes.

In Beqaa, three medics were killed in an Israeli strike on the Islamic Health Authority Center in the village of Qilya. A series of raids on the area also targeted the villages of Mahmoudieh, Wadi Barghaz, Sriri and Somhor.

In Baalbek, raids carried out near the Mortada Hospital left significant damage to one of the hospital departments, according to Lebanese news outlets. 

Airstrikes on Beirut that Israel carried out nightly over the course of several weeks have ceased. The Lebanese military stated on Tuesday that it was carrying out controlled detonations of unexploded munitions in the area.

Beirut could still be a target, however, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stating on Monday evening that targeting the Lebanese capital still falls within the Israeli military’s strategy, according to the Israeli press.

On the other side, Hezbollah missiles forced thousands of Israelis in Tel Aviv to hide in shelters on Monday night, while navigation at Ben Gurion Airport was halted for several hours.

Hezbollah continued to conduct operations on Israel’s north on Tuesday, firing rockets at the Kiryat Shmona settlement. It also launched a number of missiles during the early hours of Tuesday at gatherings of Israeli forces in Marj, Khallet Wardah, Bouslaiya, the Sadana area, and Birkat al-Nouqar in the occupied Shebaa Farms.

Hezbollah fighters continued to repel Israeli military attempts at invading Lebanese territory. The organization announced that its fighters confronted with machine guns an Israeli infantry force trying to infiltrate the outskirts of the village of Rab al-Thalathine from the east on Tuesday morning.

Following multiple instances over recent days in which Israeli fire damaged fixtures belonging to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and caused injury to at least four of the peacekeeping troops stationed at the border, the United Nations Security Council issued a statement following a session on Monday night, expressing “strong concern” about the developments.

Israel, which is attempting incursions into Lebanon at multiple points along the border from east to west, has requested that UNIFIL withdraw five kilometers further north, but the peacekeeping forces remain deployed along the Blue Line, a UN-designated border established in 2000 as the point behind which Israeli forces occupying Lebanon should withdraw.

UN Secretary General António Guterres reportedly stated after the session that the peacekeeping forces are to stay at their posts.

Stationed in situ at one of their designated positions, in Maroun al-Ras, UNIFIL forces stated over 10 days ago that Israeli forces were gathering nearby. They have since reported being exposed to Israeli fire multiple times and having their blast walls damaged by Israeli tanks forcing entry into Lebanon.

They have noted instances, too, in which their troops deployed with a peacekeeping mandate under UNSC Resolution 1701 have been exposed to crossfire without stating the source of fire.

The Monday night UNSC statement, issued following a closed session held to address the developments regarding UNIFIL, was the first in which the security council has specifically addressed Lebanon since Israel escalated its attacks across the country in mid-September.

The security council statement did not mention Israel by name, but a statement issued on Monday night by the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, France and Germany, all of which contribute troops to UNIFIL, expressed “deep concern in the wake of recent attacks by IDF on UNIFIL bases, which have left several peacekeepers injured” and called “on Israel and all parties to uphold their obligations to ensure the safety and security of UNIFIL personnel” and allow UNIFIL to fulfill its mandate.